Deflection of plumes by mantle shear flow: experimental results and a simple theory

Modulation of mantle plumes and heat flow at the core mantle boundary by plate-scale flow: results from laboratory experiments

We report results from analog laboratory experiments, in which a large-scale flow is imposed upon natural convection from a hot boundary layer at the base of a large tank of corn syrup. The experiments show that the subdivision of the convective flow into four regions provides a reasonable conceptual framework for interpreting the effects of large-scale flow on plumes. Region I includes the are...

Mantle plumes and associated flow beneath Arabia and East Africa

Hot Spots and Mantle Plumes

Hot spots are anomalous areas of surface volcanism that cannot be directly associated with plate tectonic processes. The term hot spot is used rather loosely. It is often applied to any long-lived volcanic center that is not part of the global network of mid-ocean ridges and island arcs. The classic example is Hawaii. Anomalous regions of thick crust on ocean ridges are also considered to be ho...

Mantle plumes persevere

A recent census suggests that seamounts1 — typically extinct underwater volcanoes — are numerous. It has been estimated that about 125,000 seamounts with a height of more than one kilometre exist on our ocean floors. Most of these are postulated to form at volcanic hotspots that are the surface expressions of mantle plumes — hot material upwelling from Earth’s interior. Yet, many seamounts do n...

Corn syrup mantle plumes.

In the dark, microscopic plastic beads in the 200-gallon tank of corn syrup glow and sparkle when light from a projector shines at them in geophysical fluid dynamicist Christopher Kincaid’s laboratory at the University of Rhode Island. Experiments with this goo could help explain whether columns of magma rising up from near the Earth’s core might explain supervolcanic activity. Scientists have ...